


Just a Little Boom

by merriman



Category: Emelan - Tamora Pierce
Genre: F/F, Food, Magic, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-23
Updated: 2017-12-23
Packaged: 2019-02-19 01:36:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,139
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13113171
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/merriman/pseuds/merriman
Summary: Well before Daja, Sandy, Briar, and Tris come to Discipline, Lark and Rosethorn still have students. This one is a bit of a puzzle, but if they work together they'll figure it out.





	Just a Little Boom

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Laurea](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Laurea/gifts).



Dinner eaten, cleaning up done, and current student safely up in her own room, Lark took a lamp into her workshop and set it by a comfortable chair she had in one corner. Her loom sat large in the dark at the other end of the room, but tonight she had a smaller project to finish. She took out her workbasket and carefully fixed a piece of linen into an embroidery hoop. She'd woven the linen herself, and spun the embroidery thread.

Tendrils of her magic flowed into the cloth and the thread in her hands as she started the first few stitches of what would be a protective pattern worked all the way around the edge. She'd only just begun when Rosethorn came through the door and walked over to see what she was doing.

"I'm stumped," Rosethorn admitted. She set a mug of tea down next to Lark, then pulled a chair over to sit next to her. "She's got magic, that much I can tell."

"Of course she does," Lark agreed softly as she worked. She paused momentarily to pick up the tea and blow on it before sipping. "But we'll have to tease it out, like carding wool."

"Hmm." Rosethorn nodded and sipped her own tea. "At least she's controlling herself a bit more."

They'd taken on their newest student when she'd been present for a number of small and as-of-yet unexplained explosions around the temple grounds. No one had been hurt, and it didn't appear to have been caused by anger or a desire for violence. In truth, Vona was one of the most peaceful and calm students Lark had ever encountered. Most students in their early teens were, at the very least, boisterous. Vona, on the other hand, seemed content to simply do her lessons and help out around the cottage. But then there were those explosions, and while scrying hadn't done much to reveal the root of the issue, it had pointed to Vona as the source.

Two weeks into her stay at the cottage and they'd reduced the number of explosions to perhaps one a day, but they were still no closer to finding out just how she was doing it.

"I do wish that more of our people were here," Lark told Rosethorn. "With so many away at Lightsbridge for the conference, and Niko and Skyfire off in Capchen, it feels like we're trying to weave without a loom."

Of course they'd sent messengers out. Skyfire seemed like the best fit for a student who could make things explode, no matter how small, but they'd been called to Branch Circle Temple in Western Capchen and that was so far inland even the fastest messenger sent by boat would still have a long ride to reach them. 

Lark sighed, setting down her embroidery and leaning her head onto Rosethorn's shoulder.

"You know we can't always solve a riddle like this," Rosethorn reminded her. And Lark knew she was right. But it still felt like they were failing Vona.

"You're thinking we're failing her," Rosethorn guessed. Lark nodded her head against Rosethorn. "The thing is, we're not failing her at all," Rosethorn continued. "She's happy enough, or she says she is and she doesn't seem to be lying. She's stable, for the most part. She only exploded one of the peppers today in the garden and that's progress."

Lark laughed softly. Poor Rosie had been in a state the first time Vona had exploded something in the garden. But the girl had been so apologetic and so dedicated to helping out with the weeding and the watering to make up for it, Rosethorn had soon forgiven her. And besides, nothing that she'd exploded in the garden had been a live plant. They'd all been things just off the vine.

"If only she was a green mage," Lark sighed. "That would have made it so easy."

"Easy!" Rosethorn laughed. "Easy for you, my dear. I'd be the one teaching and you'd be able to devote yourself to your embroidery!"

"This embroidery is for the temple," Lark pointed out. "But you're right. And her magic isn't with plants at all anyhow." She sat up again and went back to her work. They sat like that for a while, Rosethorn simply watching Lark create. 

Lark was almost done with the corner she was working on when Rosethorn leaned over and kissed her, momentarily blocking Lark's view of the embroidery. 

"I'll end up pricking my finger and ruining the whole thing," Lark protested, but not very strongly. She'd been working on a series of these pieces for Dedicate Superior Moonstream for the past month. Surely, she could take a break?

So the embroidery was set aside again and Lark kissed Rosethorn back before blowing out the lamp and taking her to bed.

* * *

Their cots weren't that big, but they did comfortably fit two people. Lark had woken up well before dawn to find Rosethorn still twined around her like a beanstalk's vines. Neither of them had to be at the dawn temple services that day, but sometimes Lark liked to go to them anyhow and greet the morning with the temple. But Rosethorn was still asleep, hair mussed and face gentled. Lark gazed at her and smiled, carefully kissing her forehead. Rosethorn murmured in her sleep and turned her face up to meet Lark's lips.

Rosethorn's eyes had just opened, crinkling in a smile when she saw Lark looking at her, when they heard a loud bang from the main room, then the sound of broken crockery falling to a wooden surface and Vona's voice calling for them.

"I'm fine!" she called out in assurance, but Lark and Rosethorn were already detangling themselves and hastily pulling on robes to go and see what had happened.

Out in the main room, Vona was carefully picking up pieces of a broken jug that had held their cream. The cream itself was a puddle on the table now, so Lark quickly went to get cloths to clean it up while Rosethorn helped Vona.

"What happened?" she asked, far more gently than most at Winding Circle would believe Rosethorn capable of. Many of the other dedicates had been unnerved by Vona's explosions, but there was Rosie, right next to her, making sure Vona knew she wasn't scared. Of course, she might well be, but she wasn't going to let Vona know that.

"I was just setting out the breakfast things," Vona told her. "I took the cover off the jug and turned around and it exploded. I wasn't even looking at it!"

Rosethorn sighed and nodded. "We'll get to the bottom of this, Vona. Our people should be on their way back from Branch Circle any day now."

Vona nodded. "Should I go to the kitchens and get more cream?"

Lark shook her head. "I have more. That jug was almost empty anyhow, so it's no big loss." She sniffed at the cloth she'd used to mop it up and frowned. "Smells like it was turning, so you might well have done us all a favor."

The day proceeded in all normalcy after that. They had breakfast, took Vona to the morning services when she asked if she could join them, then went about their work for the day. Rosethorn was out in the garden and Vona was with her while Lark opened her workshop windows and went back to the embroidery. They'd all just been stopping for midday when a young man can jogging up the path to the cottage.

"Dedicates!" he called. "You asked to be told when the group returned from Lightsbridge!"

"They're back?" Rosethorn asked, dusting dirt off her hands and standing up to meet him. "I thought we'd get a messenger. Any word from Niklaren Goldeye and Dedicate Skyfire?"

"They're three days out by ship," the young man told them. "They sent a messenger bird."

"Oh good," Lark sighed as she joined them outside. "I think this calls for a bit of a celebration. What do you say we go see what Dedicate Gorse has for us for lunch?"

Gorse had also been away, but only as far as Ragat Island while he worked with a pair of other cook mages visiting at Wave Circle Temple. He'd returned just the day before, but Lark well knew that he would have had the kitchens back the way he wanted in no time.

"Come on, Vona," Rosethorn said. "You'll like Gorse. Everyone does. If we're lucky, he'll have a pie for us."

"If you're sure it's safe?" Vona said as she followed them down the path while their messenger headed back on his way to wherever he was needed next. "I don't want to explode any more jugs, or pots, or ruin a meal."

Lark saw Rosethorn pause just the tiniest bit, then continue. She considered the issue at hand herself and yes, it was a risk, taking Vona to the kitchens, but Dedicate Gorse had them well warded against mishaps. He'd have to, given how easy it would be for fires to break out, pots to boil over, any number of dangerous things. But Rosethorn had the barest hint of a smile on her lips, so that didn't seem to be what she'd been thinking.

Oh. When Lark realized what Rosie likely had in mind, she smiled too. What did all of Vona's explosions have in common? They'd been at least partially edible. There'd been the apples when she'd arrived, a sack of cornmeal, peppers in the garden. But they'd been thrown off by the crockery. There'd been bowls and the jug of cream, mugs, a whole barrel - but it had been a barrel with the last hints of the flour it had carried. 

When they arrived at the kitchens, Lark and Rosethorn led Vona in, knowing Gorse would meet them almost immediately anyhow.

"My two favorite Dedicates!" Sure enough, Gorse's voice came through the kitchen as he made his way to them past worktables full of apprentices rolling out dough and chopping vegetables. "And what have we here?" 

Once Gorse was in front of them, he smiled at Vona. "New student? I'm Dedicate Gorse. You come to me if you need a bite to eat." Then he paused. "Or anything else…" He looked to Lark and Rosethorn, face expectant.

"Vona's magic has been a little hard to pin down," Lark admitted. "But we were thinking maybe you might be able to give us a hand?" That was, if Rosethorn was right and Lark's recent suspicions were correct.

Vona glanced at them, then back to Gorse, then out at the kitchens and the bustling activity in them. "It's so busy," she murmured. 

Gorse put one hand on her shoulder and gently guided her over to a corner. "Here," he said, taking a small meat pie from a tray as an apprentice walked by with it. He handed the pie to her. "Tell me, how would you make something like this?"

Vona took the pie and broke it apart. She sniffed the filling, then took a bite. Gorse's smile widened as she did.

"First you spice the meat," Vona told him. "So the flavor has time to really blend. Cinnamon, cloves, allspice, cumin" she listed off.

"Did she just do magic?" Rosethorn whispered to Lark.

"I think so," Lark said.

Gorse looked over at them. "Yes indeed, to have caught the cloves in there," he agreed. "Maybe a little more power than necessary for that, but then, I do have wards in here to keep anything from exploding when someone floods anything with more magic than it can handle."

Vona looked up at him, eyes wide. "Is that what I do?" she asked him. "The cream… It was going bad…"

Lark nodded. "You must have been trying to fix it without knowing and shoved more magic in than that little bit of cream could hold."

"Vona, I think perhaps the kitchens here are a little busy for you just yet," Gorse told her. He looked over at Lark and Rosethorn. "I'll come ward your cottage. We'll set up some lessons there until you've got things more under control. For now, Vona, why don't you join me in my pantry and we'll see what we can figure out. You two, go find something else to do," Gorse told Lark and Rosethorn. "I'll send Vona back with lunch in a bit."

Dismissed, Lark and Rosethorn left the kitchens, each taking a meat pie with them for the road.

"We'll probably have some more broken crockery before she's fully trained," Rosethorn said as they headed back to Discipline. "Gorse can't ward the whole temple grounds against that."

"No," Lark agreed, taking Rosethorn's hand and swinging it a little. "But he can ward your garden. Finally, your peppers will be safe."


End file.
